I think, is a fair observation upon the instances adduced; but it is not the observation I am concerned to make. It is more for the purpose of my argument to remark, that forgery, upon such an occasion, would not have spared a miracle; much less would it have introduced St. Paul professing the utmost anxiety for the safety of his friend, yet acknowledging himself unable to help him; which he does, almost expressly, in the case of Trophimus, for he "left him sick;" and virtually in the passage before us, in which he felicitates himself upon the recovery of Epaphroditus, in terms which almost exclude the supposition of any supernatural means being employed to effect it. This is a reserve which nothing but truth would have imposed. No. III. Chap. iv. 15, 16. "Now, ye Philippians, know also, that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me, as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only. For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity." It will be necessary to state the Greek of this passage, because our translation does not, I think, give the sense of it accurately. Οιδατε δε και ύμεις, Φιλιππησίοι, ότι εν αρχή του ευαγγελίου, ότε εξήλθον απο Μακεδονίας, ουδεμια μου εκκλησια εκοινωνησεν, εἰς λογον δοσεως και ληψεως, εἰ μὴ ὑμεις μονοι· ότι και εν Θεσσαλονικῇκαι άπαξ και δις εις την χρείαν μοι επεμψατε. The reader will please to direct his attention to the corresponding particulars ór, and órı xai, which connect the words εν αρχή του ευαγγελίου, ότε εξήλθον απο Μακεδονίας, with the words εν Θεσ saλov, and denote, as I interpret the passage, two distinct donations, or rather donations at two distinct periods, one at Thessalonica, drag zaidis, the qther after his departure from Macedonia, ir sn λέον απο Μακεδονιας.* I would render the passage, so as to mark these different periods, thus: "Now, ye Philippians, know also, that in the beginning of the gospel, when I was departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me, as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only. And that also in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity." Now with this exposition of the passage, compare 2 Cor. xi. 8, 9.: "I robbed other churches, taking wages of them to do you service. And when I was present with you, and wanted, I was chargeable to no man; for that which was lacking to me, the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied." It appears from St. Paul's history, as related in the Acts of the Apostles, that upon leaving Macedonia he passed, after a very short stay at Athens, into Achaia. It appears, secondly, from the quotation out of the Epistle to the Corinthians, that in Achaia he accepted no pecuniary assistance from the converts of that country; but that he drew a supply for his wants, from the Macedonian Christians. Agreeably whereunto it appears, in the third place, from the text which is the subject of the present number, that the brethren in Philippi, a city of Macedonia, had followed him with their munificence, or nλov απο Μακεδονίας, when he was departed from Macedonia, that is, when he was come into Achaia. * Luke ii. 15. Και εγένετο, ὡς απήλθον απ' αυτών εἰς τον ουρανον οἱ αγγελοι, “ as the angels were gone away," i. e. after their departure, of Toeves LITOV προς αλλήλους. Matt. xii 43. Όταν δε το ακαθαρ τον πνεύμα εξέλθη από του ανθρωπου, when the un. clean spirit is gone, i. e. after his departure, disXera. John xiii. 30. 'Ors eğnade (Ioudas) "when he was gone," i. e. after his departure. Asyı İnσous. Acts x. 7. ὡς δε απηλθεν ὁ αγγελος ὁ λαλων τῳ Κορ vna, "and when the angel which spake unto him was departed," i. e, after his departure, pevnous duo οικετων, δω. The passage under consideration affords another circumstance of agreement deserving of our notice. The gift alluded to in the Epistle to the Philippians is stated to have been made "in the beginning of the gospel." This phrase is most naturally explained to signify the first preaching of the gospel in these parts; viz. on that side of the Egean sea. The succours referred to in the Epistle to the Corinthians, as received from Macedonia, are stated to have been received by him upon his first visit to the peninsula of Greece. The dates therefore assigned to the donation in the two epistles agree; yet is the date in one ascertained very incidentally, namely, by the considerations which fix the date of the epistle itself; and in the other, by an expression ("the beginning of the gospel") much too general to have been used if the text had been penned with any view to the correspondency we are remarking. Farther, the phrase, "in the beginning of the gospel," raises an idea in the reader's mind that the gospel had been preached there more than once. The writer would hardly have called the visit to which he refers the "beginning of the gospel," if he had also visited them in some other stage of it. The fact corresponds with this idea. If we consult the sixteenth and twentieth chapters of the Acts, we shall find, that St. Paul, before his imprisonment at Rome, during which this epistle purports to have been written, had been twice in Macedonia, and each time at Philippi. No. IV. That Timothy had been long with St. Paul at Philippi, is a fact which seems to be implied in this epistle twice. First, he joins in the salutation with which the epistle opens: "Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi." Secondly, and more directly, the point is inferred from what is said concerning him, ii, 19: “But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort when I know your state; for I have no man like minded, who will naturally care for your state; for all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's; but ye know the proof of him, that as a son with the father, he hath served with me in the gospel." Had Timothy's presence with St. Paul at Philippi, when he preached the gospel there, been expressly remarked in the Acts of the Apostles, this quotation might be thought to contain a contrived adaptation to the history; although even in that case, the averment, or rather the allusion in the epistle, is too oblique to afford much room for such suspicion. But the truth is, that in the history of St. Paul's transactions at Philippi, which occupies the greatest part of the sixteenth chapter of the Acts, no mention is made of Timothy at all. What appears concerning Timothy in the history, so far as relates to the present subject, is this: "When Paul came to Derbe and Lystra, behold a certain disciple was there named Timotheus, whom Paul would have to go forth with him." The narra tive then proceeds with the account of St. Paul's progress through various provinces of the Lesser Asia, till it brings him down to Troas. At Troas he was warned in a vision to pass over into Macedonia. In obedience to which he crossed the Egean sea to Samothracia, the next day to Neapolis, and from thence to Philippi. His preaching, miracles, and persecutions, at Philippi follow next; after which Paul and his company, when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, came to to Thessalonica, and from Thessalonica to Berea. From Berea the brethren sent away Paul; "but Silas and Timotheus abode there still." The itinerary, of which the above is an abstract, is undoubtedly sufficient to support an inference that Timothy was along with St. Paul at Philippi. We find them setting out together upon this progress from Derbe, in Lycaonia; we find them together near the conclusion of it, at Berea in Macedonia. It is highly probable, therefore, that they came together to Philippi, through which their route between these two places lay. If this be thought probable, it is sufficient. For what I wish to be observed is, that in comparing, upon this subject, the epistle with the history, we do not find a recital in one place of what is related in another; but that we find, what is much more to be relied upon, an oblique allusion to an implied fact. No. V. Our epistle purports to have been written near the conclusion of St. Paul's imprisonment at Rome, and after a residence in that city of considerable duration. These circumstances are made out by different intimations, and the intimations upon the subject preserve among themselves a just consistency; and a consistency certainly unmeditated. First, the apostle had already been a prisoner at Rome so long, as that the reputation of his bonds, and of his constancy under them, had contributed to advance the success of the gospel: "But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel; so that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in other places; and many of the brethren in the Lord waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear." Secondly, the account given of Epaphroditus imports, that St. Paul, when he wrote the epistle, had been in Rome a considerable time: "He longed after you all, and was full of heaviness, because that ye heard that he had been sick." Epaphroditus was with St. Paul at Rome. He had been sick. The Philippians had heard of his sickness, and he again had received an account how much they had been affected by the intelligence. The passing and repassing of these advices must necessa |